Mr. Trump debated well and won on Monday. Hillary brought her “last war” effort and made her hurdles as well but it was all about Trump – as it has been since the beginning.

On Harvard Debate Society points, they both were losers. I say this to get it out of the way. We should stop calling them debates – they aren’t.

Monday night was no debate nor was it really designed to be one. It was a made-for-TV-ratings free-for-all punctuated by the occasional shot at Mr. Trump given by the “moderator” under the guise of, well, moderating.

At least we were spared the debate style of the primaries which were nothing more than extended interviews. In those “debates,” the bloated-egos of the “moderators” were on display actually giving themselves more time to talk than any of the candidates were given. It was a pain to watch and should be abolished.

However, Monday’s format held promise. There would be neither opening statement nor closing statement; just a timed question, a timed response and about ten minutes of free exchange. This was to be repeated six times, back-to-back, for ninety minutes.

Needless to say it did not come off that way. Pressured by his peers’ lambasting of Matt Lauer for an even-handed approach to the Commander-In-Chief Forum, Lester Holt decided that he needed to put his thumb on the scale or risk be ostracized by his community of “journalists.”

Holt came to Mrs. Clinton’s help repeatedly. Asking only six follow-up questions all night, Holt asked them all of Mr. Trump and there were all variations of whether Mr. Trump still beats his wife.

Mrs. Clinton was treated royally and deferentially and she reveled in it instructing Holt at one point that “we covered this ground.” Holt obeyed and moved on.

Additionally, Holt acted as fact checker at the behest of both his liberal media peers and the Clinton campaign and was twice stuffed. Having the wrong “facts” makes it hard to be a fact-checker – as Holt found out.

As Republicans, we have come to expect this kind of treatment but Monday has to be a moment of real exception. I am equally sure that the Debate Commission made up of equal portions Democrats and #NeverTrumpers was delighted with the performance of Mr. Holt.

The Commission needs to be scrapped and a new concept has to take its place embracing the fact that the elite media is irredeemably biased and of little influence anyway. They only embarrass themselves and serve “red meat” to the ever shrinking numbers of leaf eating left-wingers who still watch.

Mr. Trump smartly came into the street fight (and make no mistake it was designed to be a two-on-one mugging) with one goal – look the part (restrained, reserved, knowledgeable and Presidential). This is the image that his campaign needed to show both his supporters and the few undecided voters out there.

In this he was hugely successful. He was knowledgeable on the issues – even more so than I thought that he would be and was restrained for most of the debate.

In fact, he forewent most opportunities to attack her and stuck to the script – to the great dismay of his most ardent supporters and world-class Hillary-haters who wanted him to repeatedly slam her fingers in the piano lid – regardless of the cost to be paid.

He was there to accomplish a specific goal and did it in grand fashion.

On the other side, she competently gave a discourse on the issues and needed to look engaged and alive for ninety minutes. She made it and, with Holt’s active participation, spent 30 minutes (a full third of the debate) talking about whether Trump supported the Iraq War and his history of the birther issue.

The Lefties were thrilled and Holt will no-doubt get some awards in the near future. Hillary accomplished what she needed to get done and she can say that he debate was a success for her as well. Her supporters were pleased. In a larger sense though, she was her wonkiest self. If she was auditioning for White House Chief of Staff or National Security Advisor, she was a hit. As for her ability to be Chief Executive, she bombed. Sadly, there is no positive case to be made for President H.R. Clinton. Last night was her chance to demonstrate why the people should vote for her – regardless of her opponent. She failed to make the point at all.

Last, led by the New York Times, the elite media preened all day selling the lie that she crushed him. “Me thinks that the lady doth protest too loudly.”

You know you have won when the media really needs to yell their opinion otherwise.

All in all, “The Donald” stayed home and Candidate Donald J. Trump came to win. He did. In future debates, Candidate Trump will be able to focus more on her and her shortcomings and throw a little “red meat” to the right-wing meat eaters who want her to squirm a little.

It will be fun to watch but the foundation of his debate had to be laid to get that done in the future. Team Trump is really guiding the strategic campaign well and the candidate is enthusiastically cooperating – just what we all hoped.